{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=CF1E8D52-136E-4B9A-B0A8-05C573D7B498", "Roberts: Tax Reform is Critical to Economic Growth, Creating Jobs and Higher Wages", "2017-11-30", "2017", "2017-11", "Republican", "House", "KS", "Pat Roberts", "R000307", "www.roberts.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), a senior member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, today spoke on the Senate floor in support of the Senate\u2019s tax reform legislation, saying it is critical to maximizing economic growth, creating jobs and higher wages, and finally getting our economy back on track.\r\n\u201cWe all understand how critical tax reform is,\u201d said Roberts. \u201cWe have before us now a comprehensive plan to address the many issues with our current tax code, cleaning up and modernizing the tax code, to help generate more growth in our economy. The bill before the Senate does exactly that, providing meaningful tax relief for families, small businesses, and farmers and ranchers.\u201d\r\nTo view or download video of Roberts speaking on the Senate floor, go here, or click the image below.\r\nRoberts, who was tapped to be the leading voice on agriculture issues on the Finance Committee, praised the legislation\u2019s provisions that will provide certainty to farmers and ranchers. He said, \u201cI am very pleased the Senate bill keeps the Ag tax provisions, but will also help our farmers by creating a much more pro-growth tax system, lowering their tax burden and simplifying the tax provisions relating to the agricultural sector.\u201d\r\nThe Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed out of the Senate Finance Committee, with Roberts\u2019 support, on November 16, after a week of marking up the legislation. For video of his opening statement at the markup of the legislation, go here.\r\nThe U.S. House of Representatives passed their version of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act earlier this month. The legislation is expected to be voted on in the Senate this week.\r\nRoberts\u2019 full remarks, as prepared for delivery are below:\u00a0\r\nMr. President, soon, this Senate will take an historic vote that will impact every American. These votes do not come very often.\r\nWe all understand how critical tax reform is. All of us in the Senate \u2013 on both sides of the aisle \u2013 are familiar with the burdens, the complexity, and lack of competitiveness associated with our current tax system.\r\nIt is abundantly clear that this complexity and our antiquated corporate tax system act as a brake on our economy.\r\nIt is equally clear that in recent years our economic growth rate \u2013 our gross domestic product \u2013has been stuck at an historic low level \u2013 1.9 percent or less.\r\nThere are many opinions as to why our economy has been so stagnant, causing American job loss \u2013 unemployment and more reliance on government programs.\r\nFor one, I believe what the great majority of small business owners, manufacturers, community banks, other lending institutions, individual workers \u2013 laid off or hanging on paycheck-by-paycheck, virtually everyone in rural America \u2013 farmers, ranchers, growers \u2013 every town hall meeting \u2013 have told me:\r\nThe number one issue of concern is the crushing weight of federal regulation.\r\nThis was summed up by one Western Kansas rancher who said \u201cPat. I feel ruled, not governed.\u201d\r\nBut we are unwinding this regulatory overkill.\r\nToday, we are again making government a partner \u2013 not a regulatory adversary.\r\nHow on Earth did we reach this sad state of affairs?\r\nThere are many factors \u2013 Administrative policy that seems to mimic or compare to European Union monetary policy, government agendas, and central control.\r\nBut with this tax bill, that can change, and will change \u2013 if only we recognize and take this important opportunity \u2013 an opportunity that many members in this body have never had to truly make a difference.\r\nCan America get back to a place \u2013 to make history \u2013 and to once again experience the power of the American dream?\r\nI am confident we can.\r\nWe have before us now a comprehensive plan to address these issues, cleaning up and modernizing the tax code, to help generate more growth in our economy.\r\nThe bill before the Senate does exactly that, providing meaningful tax relief for families, small businesses, and farmers and ranchers.\r\nI am especially pleased with the rates and bracket structure the legislation would put into place on the individual side.\r\nWe have done a good job pushing these rate reductions down to lower and middle-income families. This would provide a net tax cut for families in Kansas of about $2,500, and nearly 10,000 new jobs.\r\nAs many have pointed out today, we accomplish this by reducing individual tax rates, raising the standard deduction, and increasing the child credits in the tax code.\r\nLet\u2019s be clear, these are consensus, bipartisan ideas, and are proposals that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have, in the past, regularly proposed and supported.\r\nLet me also comment on concerns raised by some of my colleagues that we simply cannot afford this bill, and that it will worsen the country\u2019s financial condition.\r\nI do not believe this is the case, but let me briefly explain why.\r\nIn putting this bill together, we have used very modest economic growth estimates \u2013 below the historic post-World War II norm of 3 percent.\r\nIn fact, the Congressional Budget Office is currently projecting 1.9 percent growth over the next 10 years.\r\nWe learn today that the Joint Committee on Taxation says the Senate bill will create only modest economic growth.\r\nNotwithstanding the fact that I have never seen a CBO or Joint Tax projection that has come true, I think these estimates are far too low, hard to believe, and is simply unacceptable.\r\nI refuse to accept that we cannot return to more robust economic growth.\r\nAnd I think we will achieve better growth rates, and observe that we are well on our way \u2013 recent economic activity bears this out.\r\nThe economy is now growing at a solid pace with low unemployment and low inflation. Real GDP growth during the first two quarters of the year averaged 2.1 percent at an annual rate.\r\nSince January, the unemployment rate fell 0.6 percentage points to 4.2 percent in September, the lowest rate since 2001.\r\nAnd overall growth is poised to average about 3 percent over the second half of this year.\r\nThese are positive trends, but we can do more. We need even stronger growth.\r\nStronger growth leads to higher living standards, less dependence on governmental support, and lower need for spending on entitlement and other programs.\r\nSo how do we get there? Tax reform \u2013 to maximize growth to create jobs and increase wages.\r\nThis is not \u201ctrickle down\u201d economics or any other name you want to call this. This is commonsense economics \u2013 which I have yet to see be refuted by any mainstream economist.\r\nIncrease the supply of capital in the economy and you expand the productivity of the economy.\r\nThis result is more business investment, leading to worker productivity gains, workers who then earn more, increasing their after-tax-income, and, in the end, raising their living standards.\r\nI want to turn to an essential sector of our national economy \u2013 agriculture \u2013 those who are responsible for feeding America and a troubled and hungry world.\r\nI am pleased that the bill reflects the importance of production agriculture to our economy.\r\nIt is important to keep in mind that few other sectors of the economy face the multiple uncertainties of production agriculture \u2013 weather, storms, fires, volatility in global commodity prices, trade disputes, and transportation issues and more.\r\nWhen we pass this bill, the agriculture industry will have a number of provisions in the tax code that recognize the uncertain and volatile nature of the income and expense associated with agricultural operations.\r\nThese provisions \u2013 about 34 or 35 of them at last count \u2013 include accounting rules that allow farmers to manage their income and expenses. For example, in a year when commodity prices are low, they can account for costs in a way that keeps them in operation.\r\nThere are also specific inventory rules to help manage costs associated with livestock and dairy operations, and to handle items needed for other basic operations \u2013 such as fertilizer and crop treatments.\r\nThere are unique rules for timber operations.\r\nEven baby chickens have their own inventory rule \u2013 which differs from the rules for ostriches and emus.\r\nThere are rules set for how to handle damaged crops and livestock disasters. These are certainly important today.\r\nI can tell you that these disaster rules provided a critical boost to ranchers in my state, enabling them to begin to recover from the devastating prairie fires in western Kansas earlier this year.\r\nTurning to the new provisions in the bill, we have developed it with agriculture in mind. And here I would be remiss not to mention the strong input and advice I have received on these matters from Senator Grassley, Senator Thune and Senator Scott, my colleagues who also share a strong interest in our agricultural economy.\r\nThe bill, for example, liberalizes the depreciation rules for agricultural operations, giving farmers and ranchers 5-year property depreciation and permitting full expensing of plant and equipment purchases.\r\nThe bill would greatly improve the ability of the agricultural community to use the cash method of accounting, which provides flexibility in managing cash flow \u2013 which is essential to providing certainty in operations.\r\nThere are significant provisions in the legislation, that establish a new income tax rate for passthrough organizations.\r\nThis is a very important issue for the agricultural community. The majority of farms and ranches are set up as passthroughs, and most of the income earned by farmers flows through these structures.\r\nThe bill also includes new rules for farmer cooperatives, which are an important part of production agriculture. We have worked very hard to ensure that the benefits of cooperative farming are held whole in this tax reform plan.\r\nThe bill also doubles the exemptions from the Estate and Gift, up to $22 million per couple.\r\nThis may sound like a lot, but for land owning, cash constrained farmers, they can hit this exemption amount quickly.\r\nAnd even when they do not, many farmers and ranchers spend thousands of dollars a year on lawyers\u2019 and accountants\u2019 fees to plan for the best way to pass their life\u2019s work on to their children.\r\nWhile I will continue to press for permanent repeal of the death tax, for now, let\u2019s modify it so that we reduce its damaging reach.\r\nFinally, and above all, the legislation will provide farmers and ranchers with certainty.\r\nCertainty that they will not be taxed out of business in a down year.\r\nCertainty that they will have cash available to fund their operations.\r\nCertainty that their hard-earned farm or ranch will not have to be sold off just because someone has died.\r\nCertainty that the federal government recognizes their irreplaceable role in meeting the challenges of a fractured and hungry world.\r\nSo I am very pleased the Senate bill keeps the Ag tax provisions, but will also help our farmers by creating a much more pro-growth tax system, lowering their tax burden and simplifying the tax provisions relating to the agricultural sector.\r\nI yield the floor.\r\n\u00a0\r\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=CF1E8D52-136E-4B9A-B0A8-05C573D7B498"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.091418020427227, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}